Yesterday, the EJU went digital for the Administration and Organisation Seminar 2020.
Hosted virtually from Porec in between the Junior and U23 European Championships, Head Office Director, Martin Poiger welcomed the participants of each federation and introduced the program.
To kick start the seminar, each federation member introduced themselves, happy to be back in contact with one another.
The initial points were regarding Congress which will take place, again virtually, on the 16th of December and fortunately we were able to use this opportunity as a trial run for this important meeting next month.
Of course, the main thing on everyones minds is how Covid19 is affecting the individual federations and what they should do in order to move forward and help their athletes and members. Explained was the Covid19 IJF Protocol document which is available online. The new rules were enforced during the Budapest Grand Slam and have been adhered to during the Junior European Championships. It was highlighted that depending on the local health authorities, rules may change, for example, if the local rules are stricter than that of the protocol, then they must be respected. Equally, if the local rules aren’t as strict as the IJF Protocol, then the document becomes the official guidance.
Alterations to the guidance in regards to use of face masks was seen during the Junior event, meaning that the only times athletes were permitted to remove their masks were during active warm up and contests.
To become acquainted with the protocol, the document can be found at covid.ijf.org.
Following the U23 European Championships which will take place on the 9th and 10th of November, we are all looking forward to the Senior European Championships in Prague, Czech Republic.
Martin Poiger reinforced that the Czech Federation has a very good infrastructure so that an event can take place in a safe way. We completely understand that we can’t afford as a sport or the EJU as a federation, to create a cluster of infection.
The discussion continued to encourage federations to minimise the contact of their athletes outside of their bubbles and to travel/arrive in smaller groups to avoid any potential cross-contamination. Something that was recognised here in Porec for the Junior European Championships is that more time was needed during the testing procedure due to document organisation.
It is essential that the federations must have the documents uploaded in time, including the negative test results and declaration of honour, so that the on-the-spot testing time is greatly reduced and athletes can go in to isolation quicker.
Not only have the EJU managed to host competitions this week, but prior to this we had an IYC (Improve Your Club) seminar in Saint Avold, with our Vice President of Education, Jane Bridge as the lead.
Jane Bridge was delighted to announce that 99 coaches attended and adhered to the strict protocol. Each individual had one training partner which, as it was a technical seminar, was easy to monitor, simple procedures like disinfecting hands and feet when entering the tatami was vital.
Coaches were required to wear masks, a special type worn by Jane Bridge allowed the attendees to be able to see her speaking which reduced any communication problems. There was also a follow-up system in place to monitor those who had attended and ensure there were no positive cases.
Vice President of the Luxembourg Judo Federation, Tom Schmit, who attended the seminar, added,
“It was a pleasure for us to organise, it was important for the participants and for us in general to show that judo continues, I would like to thank the EJU for the support and Jane for the quality of the seminar.”
During the lockdown period for most, the education sector was also able to advance the Judo in Schools project by creating online content for its users. With 11 pilot countries involved in the Judo in Schools League, it was very important to continue with he support for young judoka.
Information is available at judoschoolsleagues.com.
Concluding the meeting, EJU Media Director, Soren Starke introduced the new design of the website which has been refreshed in order to improve navigation for our users, this includes prioritising the location of ‘events’ for easier access. All information, documents, galleries and related news for each event will all be on the same landing page.
Projects are also on the main page including IYC, Judo in Schools. Though the general structure is the same we are confident it will be much easier to locate specific information as well as events and galleries for all federations.
We would encourage all to follow our app links and follow us for all the latest up to date news; all app diagrams can be found at the bottom of the home page.
The seminar was a success and informed each federation of the vital information regarding Covid-19 procedures for events in the near future as well as news which encourages the development of judo via our projects.
Judoka
Author: Thea Cowen